Technical Field
The present invention relates to incubation and hatching of eggs such as poultry eggs for breeding, and in particular to a system and method for determining the fertility and viability of the eggs.
Description of Related Art
Fertile eggs contain a living cell mass that develops into an embryo, and finally into a hatchling, e.g. a chick. After eggs have been selected or acquired for incubation, care is required to prevent damage or contamination of the eggs.
Eggs are set in incubator trays in movable trolleys and placed in an incubator. Temperature, humidity and oxygen levels of the incubators are controlled so that the incubators have a stable environment, free of drafts and away from direct sunlight.
Eggs may be inspected by conventional candling to determine viability during incubation. Candling may be performed by removing an egg trolley from the incubator and entering a dark room suitable for candling. A light source is then used to manually inspect a sample of the eggs for viability, typically one egg at a time. A small reddish area with blood vessels extending away from it is visible in fertile eggs. The small reddish area is the embryo floating inside the egg. If the embryo dies, the blood draws away from the embryo and forms what is called a blood ring. All clear eggs and eggs showing blood rings or streaks are removed from the incubator. If egg samples are not candled during the early stages of incubation, it will be difficult to determine whether the eggs are originally infertile or whether there is a problem with the incubation conditions in the incubator.
At best, about ninety percent of incubated eggs are expected to yield healthy hatchlings. Embryo death of originally fertile eggs may occur during different periods of incubation. Some eggs are classified as “early dead” when the embryo dies during the first quarter period of incubation, as “middle dead” when the embryo dies before transfer to the hatchery, or as “late dead” when the embryo dies during the last few days immediately before a hatch. Embryo death may lead to eggs exploding during the hatching stage. These eggs are called “black eggs” and may contaminate other eggs and/or hatchlings, causing considerable financial loss.
Thus there is a need for and it would be advantageous to have a system and method for a system for determining viability of a sample of eggs during incubation in the incubator while avoiding transporting the eggs to a dark room for candling and avoiding contact with the eggs. Moreover, it would be advantageous to have a system and method for determining the viability of eggs to enable subsequent transfer of viable eggs to a hatching tray while leaving non-viable eggs in the original incubation tray. Moreover, it would be advantageous to have a system and method for monitoring embryo development during incubation and optionally for controlling incubation parameters according to monitored development.